Study: Largest U.S. group of poor kids is now Hispanic

For the first time in U.S. history, the largest single group of poor children in any racial or ethnic category is Hispanic, according to a new survey.

Calling it "a negative milestone" in Hispanics' explosive growth in the United States, the Pew Hispanic Center study said in 2010, 37.3% of poor children in the U.S. were Hispanic, compared with 30.5% white and 26.6% black.

The Pew analysis of new census data put the number of Hispanic children in poverty at 6.1 million in 2010.

This negative trend has emerged as the 2010 census confirmed for the first time that Hispanics are the nation's No. 2 group, surpassing African-Americans. Hispanics now make up 16.3% of the total American population -- but in the youth demographic, Hispanic kids comprise an even bigger share -- 23.1% of U.S. children are Latino, the study said.

The study found there are 6.1 million Latino children living in poverty, and more than two-thirds of them -- 4.1 million -- are children of immigrant parents. Of those 4.1 million, 86% were born in America, the study said.

The remaining 2 million poor Latino children have U.S.-born parents, the study said.

Prior to the recession, more white children lived in poverty than Latino kids, but since the recession began in 2007, those positions reversed, and the number of poor Hispanic children grew by 36.3% between 2007 and 2010, or 1.6 million, the study said.

The number of white and black children in poverty also grew, but not as big, the study found.

More on the results of this study at CNN.